Kiddy Dreams
by MurdocsAngel
Summary: Haley isn't exactly the motherly sort...Oneshot


Disclaimer: I don't own 'em…

Summary: Haley isn't quite the motherly type…

A/N: Yeah, I decided to challenge myself to write a fic in fifteen minutes or less--complete. It was supposed to be Stargate: Atlantis, but somehow a dormant plot bunny nest has been breeding ADJL, and this ficlet is the result...

**Kiddy Dreams**

Haley hummed a quiet little tune she had composed earlier that day as she skipped down the stairs. Life was sweet and good and perfect in her little world, especially since she had no students this afternoon. She could relax and finally do some more work on her masterpiece, a fictional novel on the not so fictional life of a modern female astrophysicist.

However, her plans came crashing down around her ears with a simple knock on the door.

Oh at the time she'd thought nothing of it. After all, several of the university professors and students dropped by just for a visit, as well as Mom for the occasional Mother-Daughter outing. Sometimes even Dad would come to see her.

Only, it was none of the above. Not that she minded in the least that her darling big brother wanted to see what she was up to, or that he wanted to show her how young Julie was already getting a fang, even though she was scarcely six months old, or even that little four year old Kasey and two year old Kevin were growing so fast that they had to have their mother's genes.

"So anyway," Jake said, after they'd visited for a while, "my wife and I were wondering if you'd keep these three—just for a couple of weeks so we can finally go on our honeymoon. I mean, you know with the whole American Dragon thing, it's been kinda hard to schedule time."

Haley stared at her brother in surprise for a moment. He never talked about his wife, even Fuu-dog didn't know who she was, or what she even looked like, so it was a bit disconcerting to hear that he actually had one and that the children hadn't just spontaneously existed—not an impossibility given that they were a family of magical shape shifting lizards.

Finally, she smiled. "Oh of course, Jake, I'd love to keep them. We don't get to see each other often enough, and I'm sure they'd love for Auntie Haley to tell them all about how Daddy used to never be able to sleep without a night light or his teddy bear…"

Jake raised an eyebrow at her, but couldn't keep the smile off his face. "Man, I can't believe you still remember that stuff—and it's not even true!"

"Oh yes it is," Haley retorted, "You shouldn't lie to your children, Mr. American Dragon Jake Long"

"Well, I better get going, or…"

"What?" Haley shook her head quickly. "Oh no, you don't mean you're leaving them _now_?"

Her brother shrugged and gave her a lopsided smile. "Yeah, I mean _now_. If I don't go, something'll come up and we won't get to. Besides, you've got the week off, no tutoring so it's not like you'll be interrupted."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Jake Long, if you had anything to do with my suddenly getting vacation time…."

He held his hands up and gave a very good "who me?" look. "C'mon, please?"

After regarding him suspiciously for several long moments, she finally relented. "Okay." She waited while he grinned and stood up. "But you owe me big time. And I mean _big_ time. Especially since I know Trixie and Spud would be more than happy to look after these three."

"Well, Trixie has been trying to…never mind," he said quickly, "They just can't do it at this time. And I get it. I owe you. Big. Just name your price…" He glanced at his watch "…when I get back. Bye kids, be good for Auntie Haley!" He stooped and gave each one of them a kiss on the cheek, lingering a little longer over baby Julie to let her hold his finger. "I'll see you on Sunday, okay?"

Haley walked him to the door, holding Julie in her arms while Kasey tried to console a sobbing Kevin, who apparently didn't want Daddy to leave him alone here. She sighed. "He owes me more than big time," she said to no one particular.

She turned back to face the other two kids, and said in a bright, too happy voice, "So, anyone wanna have a sing along?"

"Gonna steal Daddy's juice!" Kevin said suddenly, in a singsong voice, then broke out into giggles.

"He's two," Kasey said, rolling her eyes as if that explained everything, "So he says silly things sometimes. I'm _four,_" she proudly held up four digits to show, "so I don't make silly kid mistakes like that."

Right about that time, Julie spit up, and then gave a big almost toothless grin. Haley closed her eyes. It was going to be a looong week.

One Week Later… 

The house was a mess, toys and other things littering the floor, sticky substances covering most of the surfaces—what wasn't covered by bright red and blue crayon marks, Kevin was still coloring on one bit of wall he hadn't managed to get to before, Kasey was screaming at the top of her lungs for him to stop, and Julie was crying as well.

Haley—whose usually perfect hair was mussed and tangled—bounced the baby girl and stared glassy-eyed at the other two.

It was to this that Jake walked in. He stopped and stared, before stifling a laugh and quickly taking Julie from her bedraggled aunt, instantly soothing the child.

"So, how'd it go?" He asked, earning a death glare in return, "Uh, I'm guessing you don't wanna keep them another day or two then…dragon business you know…?"

"Noooooo!"

Jake woke up with a start and ran into Haley's bedroom, his heart pounding with fear, until he saw the girl was just having a nightmare. "Hey, wake up," he insisted, gently shaking her shoulder.

His sister's eyes opened and she stared at him with wide-eyed fright. "Never have children," she told him succinctly, and promptly went back to sleep, leaving her brother to stare at her in confusion.

The End!

A/N: Um…just don't ask. Yeah. I kinda wrote this like in twelve minutes and this is what came out of it.

M.A.


End file.
